Mega Mission
Just prior to sending a way party to Mega Gara to explore the frigid sphere, a Silver Half-dragon named Palar arrived at the guild with two Aquan elves. He said news had reached Thal'Thaxia, the land of dragons, that there was a frigid sphere on Flouna and he had been sent to investigate. Moments after the guild agreed to let him come along, a bearded human, male cleric named Bradley arrived and volunteered to come along as well. Temtum lead the group through the mountains but he decided to stay at the base of Mega Gara with Blazej’s Stone giant friend while the rest of the group foraged ahead. At this time Artemis figured out that Bradley was really Helena in disguise and told her to drop the disguise. On their way to the freezing mountain the group encountered a group of stoic frost giants that refused to let them pass near the base of Mega Gara. The giants asked for something in giant and Blazej translated that they were asking for a chosen one. Palar and Artemis both attempted to pass them but the giants moved to stop them and they had to back off. However, when Nyanta tried, he was allowed to pass, and when he did so the giants let the whole group pass. The group headed up the mountain and found a hidden cavern near the top of the mountain, inside which they found a spiraling chute that lead to several abandoned rooms. Using his trident and a rope Palar made a way for the group to descend the chute. Inside one of the rooms that split off from the chute the group found a tapestry that depicted a silver dragon and a lion tabaxi standing together in a position of authority. They also found several burned dwarves before Palar ran out of rope, forcing them to leave the rest of the rooms unexplored. The group decided to head back out of the cave to continue ascending the mountain, but as they tried to leave they were attacked by three Yeti. Palar proved himself to be competent in combat as well as useful with his paralysis breath as the group easily dispatched the Yeti. The group returned to their upward trek and eventually they reached the top. Upon reaching the summit the group saw a castle, and a silver dragon chained up and injured inside a giant magical glyph. Palar attempted to get close to the dragon but he was flung backwards by the glyph. The group noticed Buraka, the snow leopard leader of the tabaxi exiting the castle and they rushed to meet him. He told them they shouldn’t be there, but Nyanta explained that the giants let him pass and Buraka agreed to lead the group inside the icy castle. Once inside Buraka explained that the dragon was sitting on top of a magical layline and was overcharged like a battery. Only the glyph was keeping the magic from exploding out of him like a bomb. He also explained that the dragon was nearly two thousand years old, far older than any dragon should live to be. After questioning him about the castle and dragon the group learned from him that there used to be a semi-large Tabaxi empire on the continent. But before that the tabaxi were wracked by wars between the different tribes. During this time a Lion tabaxi named Leonidas scaled Mega Gara and found a silver dragon sleeping atop its peak. The two of them battled one another in both physical battles and battles of wit, finally coming to a stalemate. The dragon was so impressed by this little Tabaxi being able to resist him he agreed to let the Tabaxi stay and talk, revealing his name as Igjarjuk, and eventually the two of them became friends, and together they united the warring tribes of the tabaxi. Buraka said the silver dragon was the same one that lay chained now, held in the magical glyph. Palar recognised the name of the dragon and identified him as as his great uncle, long presumed dead. But Buraka said the rest of the story wasn’t his to tell until the group could earn the right to hear it. He left into a central chamber and told the group to enter the two side chambers to prove their worth. Palar and Nyanta entered the right chamber, after climbing a staircase with gravity that increased the higher they went, they reached a chamber with a massive chess board in the middle of a losing game. Upon seeing the chess board, Palar decided to play and won the match. Upon completing it Palar and Nyanta were shown visions of the war between the Tabaxi tribes and the troubles they were having before King Leonidas came to unite them. The chess board reset after the visions ended and Palar decided to play again and lose this time. Upon losing they were given a green gemstone that popped out of the floor, and together they saw the Dragon’s battle with Leonidas and the Dragon and Tabaxi king's friendship grow over the years as they united every tribe. Helena, Artemis and Blazej took the leftmost chamber and found a room with an alchemical laboratory in it housing a blue stone. The blue stone showed them a vision of Leonidas as a young child, growing up in war and poverty, and being saved by a tabaxi paladin of Arcturus, and wishing to grow up like him, that he might end the senseless bloodshed. After passing their trials, Buraka told the group that a plague had taken his people after the first Human and Elf settlers arrived. Settlers before the elves who founded Alfenheim, who had all disappeared since. Three hundred years ago, neither Leonidas nor Igjarjuk could stop the plague. The plague had taken Buraka’s newborn son and his wife, Shisa, went mad with grief. She fled into the mountains and did not return for several days. But when she returned her eyes glowed with faint blue light, her skin was gaunt and torn but she did not bleed from her wounds. Her aura was dark with necrotic and undead energy; She had somehow been reborn as a lich. She struck down Leonidas in his own castle and took control of the dragon with her magic. She rode the dragon across the sky to wipe out all the tabaxi tribes, having blamed them for the loss of her son. She wiped out all but the Lynx tabaxi in a matter of only a couple days, but she still spared her husband Buraka. Buraka told the party that Leonidas’ ghost still lingers, unable to pass on while the dragon remains trapped by Shisa, now dubbed with the lich name, Shirrogoth. The party entered the throne chamber to see Leonaidas’ ghost pacing in front of his throne and four altars. One of the altars contains a yellow stone. Palar and Nyanta placed the Green stone they had found on one of the altars, and Artemis, Blazej and Helena place the blue stone they found on another altar. The ghost of Leonidas told Nyanta to retrieve his old Amulet, the Amulet of Kings down in the crypt. But after these trials the group was tired so Buraka took them to a part of the castle they could sleep in. The group slept with Palar on watch, and in the morning they explored the castle. They found what looked like an armory with very advanced cannon style weaponry. Palar found a ring that allowed him to become invisible and see through Illusions. Using this ring they found a hidden, trapped treasure room. But with Artemis’ ingenuity the group used her unseen servant to get as much gold out as they could. Palar, being a dragon, grabbed all he could carry and then hid it in a different part of the castle for safe keeping. While the rest of the group explored the armory Palar approached Buraka, who told him that he only wished to guard this place until his king could pass on. But Palar encouraged him to help them fight his wife so they could put her to rest once and for all. Palar bet that Buraka hadn’t lost his touch after all these years, and challenged him to a sparring match. Palar and Buraka had a sparring match which Palar won, only be a small margin, but it was enough to get Buraka’s blood pumping again and remind him that he was, and always would be, a warrior. The group found out that the Amulet of Kings was sealed in the crypt at the bottom of the chute they had tried to enter the day before. With Buraka on their side the group headed down the chute and into a massive tomb filled with undead Tabaxi still sealed in their coffins. This was the tomb of the royal guard. Silently and stealthily the group made their way to the door at the end of the tomb. Palar was about to try to open the door when Helena stopped him and said Nyanta, the chosen of the king, should open the door. Palar agreed with Helena on this and Nyanta opened the door. Inside they found Leonidas’ body, reanimated by the Lich, but when Nyanta opened the door, he and his guards fell to the ground and the Amulet tumbled to the floor. The entire crypt began to rustle as the undead began to come back to life. Nyanta quickly put on the Amulet of kings and used it to gain control over the undead army closing in on the group. Together with a small army of undead, the group traveled back up the chute to confront the Lich. Upon reaching the throne room again Leonaidas’ ghost gave the group the fourth and final stone. He handed the red stone to Nyanta and he placed it on the final altar. A secret door behind the throne popped open, revealing a staircase that lead down to a secret chamber beneath the throne room. The group entered and saw the Lich rocking the frozen corpse of her child. Palar turned invisible using his ring and shadowed Buraka, encouraging him to try to talk to her as she was his wife. She let them enter and Buraka tried to talk to her, and reason with her to let go and pass on. After a short conversation he came up to embrace her and she agreed to pass on, but only if he would pass on too. Before Buraka or Palar could react, she reached out and tore Buraka’s heart out of his chest. The group lept into action, unleashing a barrage of magical attacks against Shirrogoth, but to little effect. Palar, being invisible and already close to her took this opportunity to reach out and pull her baby from her grasp and retreat back into the army of skeleton tabaxi. The lich struck out at the party, nearly killing Palar in a single strike even with the army between him and her and knocked Blazej unconscious. Palar used his cold breath to freeze her baby solid and threatened to smash it if she attacked again. The Lich stopped fighting to beg Palar not to smash her child, which the party had guessed she was using as a phylactery since it had not decayed in 300 years. The group continued to barrage her with attacks and she prepared to strike out again so Palar, out of options, smashed the frozen baby across his knee and the Lich cried out, before crumbling and fading to ash. Palar and Helena immediately rushed outside to see if Igjarjuk was free, while Nyanta Artemis and Blazej stayed behind to mourn Buraka, and study the Lich’s fading body. The army of undead began to collapse as Palar and Helena rushed past them and out to see the dragon was no longer inside the glyph. Leonidas’ ghost was standing out there, looking up to Igjarjuk. The two of them were finally together again, and Leonidas’ ghost climbed atop Igjarjuk’s back. The dragon agreed to one last ride, and declared "The time of kings is over". Igjarjuk took off, the magic built up inside him starting to shine out between its scales, like he was about to combust. As they flew over the mountain, Igjarjuk used the pent up magic inside him to cast a wish spell as his dying action. A massive magical shock wave shot out from him as he combusted, but instead of destroying everything the shockwave touched, the shock wave under the power of the wish began to bring back every dead tabaxi that had died during his attack three centuries ago. The group in the hidden room heard the blast, and went up to watch this take place. As the shockwave passed over them, Palar sprouted a pair of wings. A gift from the dragon for his help in becoming free. The mountain began to reform as well from it's jagged peak, to it’s old glory before the dragon destroyed it. A massive lion's head sculpture large enough to hold the castle in its mouth began to reform atop the peak, made of never melt ice, and Mega Gara became Pride’s Peak once again.